I landed in ABQ at 6:30 on Weds and drove straight to the AMRC meeting. I had missed the last couple, so it was good to make an appearance. It's was good to see everyone. Afterward, I swung by the grocery store and then set to work on packing up for the Chama float. In 2 hours I had things mostly in order, had a drink with Jason, and went to bed with the understanding that Jason would get the rest of the things in order while I was at work. I bailed right away from the Solar ABCs webinar at 1:15, rushed back to my place, and Jason and I blasted up to the Chama put-in at El Vado damn in the 99. The lake was disgustingly low--at least 30' below it's high water mark. We weaseled our way onto someone else's permit, arranged the shuttle, and aired up the boats as the sun was setting. BUT there was a problem, the floor on my boat didn't hold air! It had a leak where the tubes attached, so I had to rig up my dry bags as a seat so I wouldn't sit in the 4-5" of water at the bottom of the soggy craft. I made do as best I could, but a couple miles down the river and my seat separated and I was sitting in 45-50ºF water. By sundown I was in mild hypothermia and getting worse. We pulled off and luckily found a perfect little camp spot just above Sleeper Rapid. I picked up my dry bag and noticed it had gotten a lot heavier. Oh no! I opened it up to assess the damage. I only loosely rolled both dry bags a couple times and now things were soaked. The med kit, tent, thermarest, and cooking stuff were drenched. As I picked up the tent bag water comically squirted out of the holes like a fountain. I had double bagged my sleeping bag so it was dry (thank goodness!). In the other bag with my clothes, about half my stuff was wet. Fortunately the big puffy survived and I threw that on to start thawing. The main problem was that my socks and shoes were drenched so I had to walk around barefoot on the cold ground. We got our fire going and Jason worked on cooking up the brots while I hung clothes and worked on drying socks and shoes by the fire. In our rush, there was some miscommunication and I didn't get yogurt or salad from the fridge, so we had to rough it with extra junk food.

We did 8 miles that first evening, so we only had a short 9 miles for Friday and could take our time in the morning. We took a long hike up to the rim of the canyon, patched the boat as best we could, and finally got on the water at 2pm. A couple miles downstream, we stopped off for a late lunch and a hike up Aragon Springs Trail. We camped at mile 17 in a beautiful spot. I brought grass-fed NM beef steaks for dinner and we eat them with Louisiana Hot Sauce and Santa Fe IPAs. I was very content on the river bank with warm food. The stairs came out in force and we kicked back to take in the cosmos.

In the morning, we did a little hike and then got to paddling at the crack of noon. There was not a whole lot of motive to get going early since it was so cold. Both nights dipped below freezing and there would be ice on the kayaks at daybreak. We kayaked passed the Christ in the Desert Monastery and made friends with the horses along the bank before getting serious, draining our last beers, and paddling the Class 3 Gaging Station and Screaming Left rapids to end the 31-mile trip.

Jason and I dipped the car south to Espanola and then right back up north to Taos for a backcountry ski on Sunday. Things had been cold enough to freeze all the corn snow solid, which made Jason move fast with the yaktrax, but I struggled with the skins on Mainstreet because I would slip back regularly. When I got to the summit of Kachina, there was no sign of Jason so I waited around with the few other folks up there, but he never showed up. Since we took different routes up, I thought there was a chance that he had a mechanical problem or was injured, but when I saw someone on the top of Lake Fork Peak and I knew that he had left me. Jerk! I managed to take the more exciting ridgeline up to Lake Fork and summitted with a few other folks. Jason and I then dropped the main chute, climbed the middle ridge, skied the back of the ridge, and hiked back up to Kachina again. Then it was a cruisy ride straight back to the car - the only problem was the sun cupped snow at the bottom. Otherwise it was fine, a whole month after it had closed for the season!

I headed out a couple days early for the SNL O&M and Inverter Reliability Workshops to catch up with friends. Dro picked me up at SJC and just about the first words out of his mouth were, "There's a small craft warning on the bay, we're going sailing!"

Nicole, Dro, myself, and couple instructors headed out on a 27 footer from Berkeley Marina into a Beaufort Fresh Breeze-and what a breeze it was! It was freezing and the waves and wind teamed up to blast surf across the cockpit. With the headwind and tides in the bay, we weren't able to make it to Alcatraz, which is where I was suggesting we go, but instead we cruised along Angel Island and then turned it around. It was a fun day out on the bay, but I gotta say it's got nothing on BVI.

Saturday night we got pizza with Chris, an old mutual friend from my NREL days. Good to see him and gossip about everyone from the Stallions of the Dawn. We headed out to get a few drinks with Dro's other friends at a Oakland dive bar. Fun times with good people.

On Sunday morning, Mohsin picked me up and we drove into the city. He had worked out a tour de SF that rivaled all my old tours of the city. Even with tennis shoes on clipless pedals in hilly San Francisco, we busted out 28 miles from the Mission to City Hall, Embarcadero, up and across the Golden Gate Bridge, Presidio, Ocean Beach, Golden Gate Park, and ended up in Dolores Park for sandwiches and Lagunitas Beer. The best part was that they closed down the roads to cars around the Academy of Sciences and we could cruise down the middle of the road with all the other people walking, biking, and roller blading.

I met Cara at Southern Pacific Brewing for dinner and a drink with Mohsin. She seems pretty happy and still works hard in Oakland for the troubled teenage youth. Then in a typical furry, Mohsin and I rushed to get me to the Caltrain. We managed to burn rubber over to the 22nd Street Station, unload my gear and sprint down the stairs, get a ticket, and rest a whole two minutes before the final south-bound train showed up.

Tues night Cora, Owen, Mohsin, Nicole, Dro and I got a tasty dinner at Rangoon Ruby a few blocks from my old pad in Palo Alto. University Ave looks just the way I left it. I suppose some things don't change.

I arrived very jetlagged on Saturday and checked into the Marriott a couple blocks from the Opera House! What a killer spot for an IEC meeting! I did an exploratory journey around Sydney Harbour, the Harbour Bridge, Opera House, Botanical Gardens, and then out into the city in search of a pub with the Aussie Rule Football game on. It was fun to be back in the antipodean world and even funner to relive a very defining moment in my life. It was the trip to Australia to study abroad that opened my life to bigger ideas of world travel, vagabonding, beer drinking, partying, and chasing women. To celebrate I recreated a self-captured photo bouldering along the harbour across from the opera house.

Sunday I was up before 5am with severe jetlag, but at least it meant I could do an easy sunrise jog up the Harbour Bridge and around the Opera House. I stopped a couple times for photos, but it was the perfect temperature and no one was up at 6am downtown.

I decided to go out to North Head to take a hike and visit Manly Beach. It turned out to be about a 10 mile hike out to North Head, which was packed with WWII history and gorgeous view of the city centre. Bigger

Eventually I did find my way to Manly beach where I did a little body surfing (water was a little chilly) and eventually kicked back with a big bottle of Coopers to take in the evening.

On Wednesday, the IEC group took a cruise around Darling and Sydney Harbours and had a find dinner of steaks and wine. I was pleased to be rubbing shoulders with all the big shots in the biz, like Howard (below) the retiring secretariat of TC82.

Friday after the meetings, I went out to the Sydney Swans game. I bought a Swans scarf and thought that was enough to support the home team, but the temperatures dropped a good 10ºC after dark so I had to get a fleece blanket at the stadium. Overall AFL is truly the funnest, dumbest sport ever and I love it.

Saturday I woke up to a rainstorm, so I visited the Aquarium before heading off to my hostel at Bondi Beach. The crew there was lively, a little too much so for me (am I getting old?); but seriously don't come storming in at 4am and tell me how great the King's Cross club you were at was. I checked out one of the longboards at the hostel and headed out for a surf on Sunday. As I was walking out the door someone looked at me and said, "It's 6 plus feet out there. No one's going out." It was 11am on Sunday, and even though there was a chilly breeze I couldn't believe there were only 3 surfers at Bondi. So I marched in and gave it a hearty go. I didn't do so well since I had only done a little foam board goofing around in New Zealand, the smaller board was much harder to get on and control. I took a couple big hits, but also managed to ride a couple waves either on my chest, knees, or-for about 0.5 seconds-on my feet. All the life guards who normally walk up and down the beach, watched me from the shore the entire time, so I must have looked like I was drowning. As I got out, badly beaten, I told the life guards, "Rough day to learn." One of the younger girls replied, "You've got a lot of heart." It probably didn't surprise her then, that I tossed the board down on the beach and then went back out for a couple rounds of body surfing.

Jason and I headed up to Taos for the end of the ski season. We participated in a self-made game of GNAR with Chris and, to a lesser extent, Tyler and Mike. Fri and Sat started out with 1.5 hours of GS turns on icy velvet. Then we turned our attention to the ridge. Hiked 3 Kachinas on Sat and 1 more on Sunday (with summit beers both days!); plus we did a Bavarian Chute, a highline and a west basin hike, and other radness. I was the best skier on the mountain. Hung out Sarah, Ruke, Brian, Louie and Mason, Kerr, Kerry, and Rusty at the post party and watched Josiah and Briana pondskim. And the best part of the weekend was that saucerboy made an appearance for the final run down Jean's!

The Vail ski trip included the sad news that on Friday my friend Carlos died in a climbing accident in the Sandias. The team was sent out to recover one of their own - surely a heavy task for everyone involved. I will remember Carlos as a true free-spirit and joyous person. He always had a beaming smile and I cry every time I think of him doing handstands and playing with Arthur back at the Wyoming cache. Rest in peace my friend.

Although most of the group has graduated with PhDs or MSs, there's still a gathering of aerospace CU folks for the annual skiing and partying shenanigans. This year included a game of GNAR that was great, except that I got there a day late and about 40 GNAR points behind. I launched a comeback with on piste intensity and apres ski debauchery, but it wasn't enough to beak Jack. This year 18 people were in the house and it was great to see so many old friends: Scott, Casey, Laura, Nick, Jack, Maciej, Ben, Chad, Tiff, and Kate.

Dro, Nicole, Owen, Cora, Joe, and Naomi sailed the British Virgin Islands with me on a 39' foot. Photos, video, and shortened video.

Day 0: I SCUBA dove Kelly's Cove on Norman Island and Angelfish Reef.

Day 1: Checked out & provisioned the boat. Sailed to Little Harbour on Peter Island with a snorkel stop at The Indians.

Day 2: Sailed to lunch snorkel mooring at Great Dog and then sailed to Trellis Bay. Had a great happy hour and dinner at Last Resort on the island. Dro hit the sand bar on the way back to the boat with the dinghy in the dark, but proudly proclaimed, "Don't worry the wind will sweep us into shallower waters!"

Day 3: Sailed to The Baths for morning swim/exploration. Sailed to Leverick Bay in North Virgin Gorda Sound.

Day 4: SCUBA day #2. Dove with Dive BVI at Wall to Wall (Named by Jacque Cousteau) on West Dog and Cow's Mouth off Virgin Gorda. Saw nurse shark, manta ray, morel eel, turtle, and the divemaster shot 2 lionfish with a speargun. Got back at noon to boat and dinghied over to The Bitter End. Happy hour and dinner at Saba Rock with spectacular sunset.

Day 5: Sailed to Jost Van Dyke. Snorkeled and played around at Sandy Cay and had dinner ashore at Foxy’s.

Day 6: Moto-sailed to Norman Island and moored in The Bight. Dinghied to sea caves for exploration. Trip ending celebration aboard the “Willy T” (converted 100 ft schooner) - complete with multiple jumps off the upper deck into the ocean.

Jeff, Timothy, and I drove up to Taos on Friday to get a day of skiing in before the GS race. I forced them to hike a Kachina with me. Jeff and I managed OK, but Timothy had some trouble with it. Gorgeous day up there though! Well worth the time!

Coming I finally slotted a Hunziker chute that I had been eyeing for a while. The entrance was rocky, but I thought I could make it in clean. First turn and GRRRIINNNDDD on a big rock under 1" of powder. Ug. The rest of the run was great and I worked on jump turns.

Jeff and I also did Lift Shack Chute and Juarez. Had dinner with Bill at the Downtown Bistro, a classy spot with live guitar and a fire place. We were the only ones in there but the food was good, and a SF Pale Ale was even better. Jeff and I headed back to Angela and Tim's for the night and watched the Blizzard of AAAHHH's - Glen Plake's finest moment in Chamonix.

Saturday was the GS race -- last of the Corporate Cup series. Course was set very straight, so I went into it too conservative on the first run, but tucked more on the 2nd to shave off 1.5 seconds. Still ended up mid-table though 22nd out of 44!

After lunch, Jeff and I kicked back to watch the Freeride Championships off Kachina. Amazing stuff, with huge air and arials.

Sunday, was the first soccer game of the season. I felt I played a solid game and we came away with a 2-0 win.

I had a rough day in Santa Fe Saturday. Warming up for the GS race I crashed coming over a cat-track roller at about 35 in a turn. Blew off my ski and slid downhill on my back for 80-100 ft. Then I went over to the race course... and things didn't improve much. Poor performance and my 2nd run got later and later. I couldn't hold the edge with the speed, and then I was way out in the rough.

Jeff and I got a beer and dinner at the Railyard in SF before I headed up to Taos to crash with Briana and Josiah. Good party at a great house with a hot tub on Blueberry Hill.

Up at Taos I happened into Lance, Soup, and Michele. Leigh and Arthur, Paul, and Ben was up too, in addition to Bri, Josiah, Marc, Meghan, and others from the house. Wow, what a ski party! Ben, Lance, and I peeled off and skied bumps for most the day. I got 4 ridges in Juarez, North Face (tough!), St. B, and St. B to Elevator (maybe?). Lance, Ben, Soup, Michele and I got Lunch and a beer at the Bavarian in the sun, but then the weather turned south. The last ridge hike had blowing snow with nearly no visibility - thank goodness for my beard, because it was freezing. Then the long, miserable drive home at 30 mph on packed snow.

Even though I wasn't able to do the Quad solo this year, I managed to find a Team with Kelley, Jeff, and Chris. I did the snowshoe portion which meant waking up at 5:15, catching a bus to the run/ski transition and waiting around for 6 hours. Jeff and I hung out for a bit before I made the ski up to the transition area.

I had about 2 hours before Jeff would show, so in the mean time I took photos of Jason and Mike as they came up heartbreak hill. The photos are here. They both crushed it with sub 5 hour times. I help bring down Jason and Mike's snowshoes and skins, which meant that I could use Mike's shoes for the run. They were so light and fast! I wasn't warmed up very well, but I managed a 18:25 up and a 9:55 down. The up shoe was the 4th fastest of the day out of 128 guy soloists, 33 girl soloists, 20 pairs teams, and 33 four-person teams. Not too shabby, though I was fresh and most of those people weren't. I gathered things up and skiied down past a dozen or so pizza-wedged racers. Back at the transition Jeff and I drank a beer and basked in the sun. Beautiful day on the mountain and so nice to not to have to sit at red-line for 5 hours. We caught a bus to the bike/run transition and with Kelley and a cute racer from Boulder stowed-away in the back of a pickup with a topper. We ducked down as we snuck past the cops and back into town while passing a little celebration jaggie. We ended up in 7th out of 33 teams. Not bad for our last-minute hack team!

Sunday I headed out for the first Lovelace soccer practice of the season. We had enough turn out for a 11 v 11 scrimmage, although it was clear I haven't touched a soccer ball in 6 months. Afterward I gathered parts at Harbor Freight and can back to fix everything broken in my life. As Jason put it, "That's a little rough, stuff is breaking faster than you can fix it!" I worked on patching the water line to the house while Jason worked on the van. After 3 trips to the store and hours of toiling in the night we restored water to the house and successfully replaced the control arm on the van. Hurray!

Monday - Jason was fired up to put the hotrod cam in the 99, so we hollowed out the garage and souped-up the race car. Only took 1.5 hours! Afterward we went to O'Niell's for a Geeks Who Drink for Bruce's birthday.

I left ABQ on Thursday morning at 5am with Lance, Rusty, and Angela for a 5-day, 4-night hut-to-hut backcountry ski trip. Feeling honored to join a group of extremely strong, fun people for the weekend, our team consisted of the following:

Justin - Mountain Guide, AMRC rescue leader, summited Denali last summerLeigh - President of AMRC, Quad champion, Denali attempt last summerLance - Mountaineer with summits of Rainier, Denali, and South American peaks, ultra-marathoner with 5+ Hard Rock 100s under his belt.Rusty - AMRC winter technician, Denali medic last summer and maybe this coming summer tooAngela - Climbed Denali last summer and about to depart as the head medic on a climbing trip to NepalBill - Rescue leader on AMRC, psuedo-epic'ed on Mt. Sanford in AlaskaKaren - Bill's wife, very strong teleskiers Jay - General Goof-off

Day 1 - After a great pizza at Leadville's High Mountain Pies, we met Leigh and Justin in the parking lot. We did the easy 3 mi, 1000 ft ski into the spacious Lindley hut just as night descended. I could tell already I was in for some serious heal blistering at this point, but that didn't prevent slow the night's merriment. Leigh and Justin cooked up some veggielicious dinner and a 3 L batch of Glühwein as we circled up around the wood-burning stove and talked strategy for the next 4 days. I called off my plans for a run at Castle and Conundrum Peaks in order to keep the group together and get a full night's sleep.

Day 2 - The group departed at 9am and headed toward Pearl Pass to circle around into Taggart Hut. I thought I was going to get the award for biggest junk show as I wollowed in the thigh-deep snow, making sloppy kick turns, getting knocked over by trees, dropping water bottles, and losing my sunglasses, but Rusty proved he was the master junker. He bought light "racing" skins, but they didn't climb on the 6" of facets at the ground and he barely to climb the most modest of grades. In the end he had to take his skis off and climb some of the time. I was completely beat cutting trail in the fresh snow, but I can only imagine how bonked Rusty must have been. And it was clear when he finally made the pass. Lance I took off his skins while Justin adjusted his bindings (don't ask) for the decent. A quick few turns and we had arrived at Taggart Hut!

Day 3 - We awoke to a raging storm, so our original plans for skinning over to Friends Hut were delayed. The 1"/hour snowfall was a red flag for avalanche danger. We went out for some quick laps on the hill by Taggart and got some great tree runs in. Lance managed to break his toe piece, Leigh was struggling with blisters, and Rusty had to make a flight out of Grand Junction on Sunday; so a long debate later, we decided to head back to Aspen for some beers. We got dinner, and with a clutch call managed to bum couches and floor space at the Mountain Rescue Aspen Cache. It was luxurious and, after stocking the fridge, refreshing as well.

Day 4 - We had breakfast in Aspen and then skiied up to Markley Hut. We had a great Eurostyle lunch with bread, cheese, sausage, and wine in the sunny cabin. I was fairly mellowed, but we decided to go for a ski. After an extended, bushwhacky slog to the top of one of the more gradual peaks we got to ski (or sink like a rock in my case) down the mountain. We trekked over to the road and then zipped down to the lodge for dinner just as dusk closed in. Really tough day for about 5 turns, but it was fun to be in the mountains with my friends. We had a great scrimp stir-fry with Quinoa and then finished off the beer and whiskey while talking about who was going to be the next AMRC president.

Jason and I did a 3/4ish dress rehearsal for the quad. I have some sort of aggravated tendon in my right calf so I minimized the running. 1 mi run down, 1 mi run up, ski up, shoe up, shoe down, ski down, drive down, bike down with the hill climb, and bike back to the car. 3:30 effort and hard day out in the warm weather. Hip flexor and calf seriously pissed at me, so I decided to bail on the solo effort this year :(

Got home and grilled steaks and green chiles with Jason, Mike and Tammy. They brought over some amazing green chile corn bread and we tilted back a few IPAs.

Up at 4am, Jason and I blasted up to Taos and xc skied to the Phoenix. I bailed on the run to Williams, but met up with Briana, Marc, Megan, Chris, Josiah, and later Jason and Victor for some killer, non-stop skiing. Jason and I had dinner with Jeff while watching some of the superbowl and then cruising back to the burque.

After a trip to U Pull and Pay (awesome) on Friday for car parts, Jeff and I cruised up to the yurts at Red River for a party with Mike, Louie, Kelley, Bruce, and 6 others. Jeff and I left early Saturday morning to make the Angel Fire race. Jeff ripped it up and I made it down the mountain. Jeff and I also did the Stampede for Texas appreciation day in the rain!

We came back to Kelley rocking some serious yoga and then Mike had to show off his moves in my St. Patties outfit. We all partied hard with the gang on Saturday night and saucerboy made an appearance! Good crew and a lot of card games and debauchery.

Taos turned out to be pretty great on Sunday. We met Adam, Kirk and Jen at the base, and even though we got a late start (10:30 first chair), we had fresh tracks on Lorelei, Walkeries (x2), and Ash Pond. Pretty chill day but we did knock out Rhoda's, Spencer's, Jean's Glade, Showdown, Edelweiss Glade, and Inferno to end it.

Around 10pm on Friday night as I was about to go to bed AMRC was called out to a 16 year-old girl who ‘fell’ off the top of the Sandia crest, rolled about 150 down a steep icy slope, free fell 80 feet, hit the ground and slid for another 50 feet, and then fell another 20 feet into some trees. Justin twisted my arm so I responded. I got to the crest about 11pm and rappelled down the limestone band at the top of the Sandias. I was on the first team of 3 to reach the hypothermic girl with a fractured right shoulder, bloody mouth/face, and severe (10 out of 10) pain in her hip. With Supra and someone from the sheriff’s office, we checked for internal abdominal bleeding and a possible femur fracture, assessed vitals, warmed her up by getting her onto a foam pad, had her drink warm fluids, and our coats before the paramedic and MD arrived. After 2.5 hours of keeping her from going to sleep and packaging the girl with an IV in a sleeping bag and SkedCo, we moved the girl into position for the national guard helicopter to hoist the patient. During the hoist, I helped man the tag line with Tyler while the helicopter rotor washed every stick, leaf, and piece of medical gear into my face. Getting the team and gear back up the 80 foot cliff face took another hour and after sorting gear and driving home it was 4:15am. I got 20-25 minutes of sleep before the alarm went off and I jumped back in the van. I caught myself dozing a couple times to Santa Fe and promised to pound caffeine when I got gas, but I finally closed my eyes a little too long about a mile south of the Camel Rock exit. The car drifted into the concrete barrier separating the two directions of traffic, broke the middle window, and bent the driver’s side front wheel. I was able to get to Espanola to buy plastic sheeting at Lowe’s and align the front wheel at the only shop in town that was open. At this point it was too late for the Red River race so I skied Taos with Ben, Tobi, and Luke Saturday and Sunday. I need to replace the window and lower control arm but otherwise I was lucky.

Feeling sick, I bailed on the trip to Ouray with Lisa, Jeanne, and others. Instead Mike and I headed up to San Antonio Hot Springs. Mike convinced me to get up early and climb Jemez Falls with him before meeting the others at the TH at 10am.

It was -16 F on the drive through the Jemez... that'll freeze something. We bundled up and skied a couple miles out to the falls. My toes were very frosty in my xc ski boots.

We rapped down to the pool at the base of the falls and immediately heard the water gurgling underneath the ice. Mike tested the pool and Boom! It collapsed. Bad start. I tiptoed around to the base of the climb and put in a screw for the belayer - KaPOW! The ice shattered because of the extreme cold. A 6 foot horizontal fracture + a couple foot vertical crack met at the center of my screw. Scary! Mike lead a bit but gave up when he saw how poorly it was attached to the rock. I decided to give it a shot. For only a 15-20 foot climb it was pretty exciting being delicate on the thin ice. I got a screw in at about 14 feet and felt much better. The rest was a walk up.

I broke my ski in the cattleguard at the car on our way out. Super bummer!

We didn't make the rendezvous, so we hit the trail to San Antonio Hot Springs. 4 miles of flat, beautiful skiing. The weather was perfect. At the end of the trek, we met Tyler, Brad, Louie, and Kelley at the springs. Little vino and some warmth in the snow sure do go well together. After a couple hours we made the journey back to the cars, and grabbed dinner at the restaurant in Jemez Springs.

In other news, I hosted the January TTT wine tasting for 19 people and got my WFR cert registered with the NM EMS Bureau.

After the Christmas presents were unwrapped, I joined up with many folks from the mountain rescue team (Leigh, Justin, Lance, Mike, Rusty, Thondup, Andy, Bill x2, Ben, Tobi) and ice climbed for 3 days in celebration of Andy's 40th birthday. We climbed Alcove Friday, South New Funtier Saturday, and North New Funtier Sunday. I managed to get 5 climbs Fri, 9 climbs Sat, and 6 climbs on Sun. so my forearms were on fire! I will say my proudest moment was pioneering a column to mixed route in North New Funtier.

I crashed at Bill's place in Pagosa before making the snowy journey down to Taos for the Touchlight and New Years Celebrations. XC Skied to the Bravarian for a beer before joining Jason, Victor, and Jeff for the Taos Torchlight Parade. I somehow managed to make it down in the pitch black, light the torches, and ski to the bottom in 12" of fresh powder. What a blast!

Light 'em up!

New Years Skiing was awesome! 16 inches of fresh powder. Jason and I got first tracks on Al's Run and then proceeded to search to destroy the fluffy stuff. The best runs of the day were on Two Bucks and Corner Chute. Bombing through the trees with face shots! Got 4 hikes in, bonked at 3pm without food/water, ran the Bavarian Chutes and then finished the day with a trip up Chair 4 (our first non-black run of the day) and then on to Edelweiss to finish New Years Day. Dinner at Rhoda's and then a long drive home.

Two recovery days with 10 miles of biking each. Friday I headed out with Jason for Quadrathlon training. Got the SAAB stuck at the Run/Ski transition, but otherwise a good day out. I only did 4.5 mi run, 5 mi xc ski, and 2 mi snowshoe with 3100 ft gain/loss. Jason managed to pull off the whole 10 miles of running. Saturday I was trying to catch up on work, but got a AMRC call for an injured cross-country skier up on Ellis Tr. Blasted up there and was on Team 1 with Supra and Michele. Ski patrol had packaged the sled so we help with the 1.5 mile haul out. Good workout with the thin coverage (rocks!).

I flew home to Southern Illinois for Christmas. On the way down with my Uncle Jim to my parent's place, we stopped off at a sandbar on the Mississippi River. The river was at historically low levels. Like a once-in-500-year drought levels.

My dad and I went for a run up to the cross. After 7 miles I had really pissed my hip flexor off though, so I took it easy for the next few days. The family (Mom, Dad, Josh, Jim, Randy, Rachael, Jeremy, and Jack) and I hiked Little Grand Canyon and we stopped at a few of the local wineries. My dad and I hiked the 24th Annual Hike-To-The-Cross along with Mom, Holly, Anne Elise, Tim, and Josh. Once again my brother beat me to the summit. I'll blame it on the sore hip.Big

As is becoming a tradition, there was a photo competition and for the first time, and beard-off. I took the prize for "most favorable." Here are my photos of the year.

USSC Ski Race Camp at Red River was great. Got to run a bunch of gates and got one-on-one advice on improving my technique from some of the best skiers in the NCAA. I made "leaps and bounds" with my skiing and I'm stoked for the GS race season! Some work friends got together on Friday night to have dinner and drinks at Timbers - good time with friends, even if they are snowboarders. Jason and I also had the killer room in the Alpine Lodge overlooking the ski hill and we watched the UNM Ski Team Train on Saturday morning. Saturday night's banquet and torchlight was fun with a little more partying with the gang that evening.

Sunday, Jason and I skied Taos. First time up for the year, and it wasn't too shabby considering how poor the snow conditions were. I made a little video of the GoPro footage we shot that day.

Wednesday, I headed out for a search with AMRC. Lance and I plus Michele and a couple other Cibola folks bushwhacked up into Sulfur Canyon in search of a waypoint on the potentially suicidal 48 y.o.'s GPS that indicated he might be there. But there was no sign of the guy. Another disappointing search. A day later the search was called off and the guy was never found.

Friday, I finished my WFR certification with a field test. I quickly diagnosed my diabetic patient's condition, provided 15 g oral glucose + food, and we walked out together. Great class. I just hope that I'm able to retain everything for when it counts.

Friday night, Jeanne and I biked downtown to meet up with Josiah, Briana, Dave, and few new friends. We hit Marble for a beer and then watched a few bands at Low Spirits. Everyone was on bikes, so it was a really fun night of cruising the streets with a gang.

Saturday, I joined the AMRC team for Andy's Training Challenge, which included repelling, ascending, radio use, navigation, knowledge of the climbs in the Sandias, knot work, a low angle haul without spilling a water bucket, splinting, and shoe improvisation. It was a fun night out, and Jason, Brendan, and Dave won the race handedly. Couple take aways: 3:1 haul system with grigri and a prussic or minitraxion is super quick for ascending, and you add 10 to go from a magnetic reading to true b/c declination is 10 degrees East in the Sandias. There was also a core shot to one of the ascention lines but no one could figure out what caused it.

Went closer-to-home for the holiday. Had a great time with the grandparents, parents, cousins, aunt, and brother. Lots of good food and relaxation. My grandmother has been having hip problems and spent about half the visit in bed. The only real excitement was a 5 mile jog along the Missouri River and watching Life of Pi. Dad gave me a GoPro 2 to play around with, so I'm planning to get some good footage of biking, climbing, and skiing in the near future. Stay tuned.

Back in the 505 on Sunday, Kevin and I did a long 20 mile mountain biking loop including the southern stretch of the Faulty Trail + the Armijo Trail. Much of the route was a hike-a-bike, but we were on a mission to find Cole Spring. The standard route via Canoncito Rd is now closed, so we did 1.8 miles of aimless searching for Cole Spring on foot - later we figured out we were one canyon off...